Abstract:
In developing regions, voice based telecommunication services
are one of the most appropriate medium for information
dissemination as they overcome prevalent low literacy
rate and are more reachable than any other medium. However,
voice based Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems
are still not exploited to their full potential and are commonly
considered as frustrating to use. We did a real world experiment
to investigate the usability issues of a voice based system.
In this paper, we report content usage of our experimental
IVR and interface difficulties as experienced by the user.
We also highlight the user behavior towards accessing critical
and non-critical information over multiple information media
vis-a-vis IVR, web and talking to a human on the phone.
Findings from the post-study survey reveal that people trust
web more than human and IVR. We believe, our results can
be used for efficient development of future IVR systems.
